Chelsea Reilly Takes USA 10K Crown

She's a novice and she's extremely polite. After winning the USA Women's 10K Championship at the Tufts Health Plan 10K for Women in Boston on Monday,

23-year-old Chelsea Reilly, according to Race Results Weekly, told the assembled media, "My name is Chelsea Reilly, I'm from Oakland, California, I'm coached by Magda Boulet, and I'm with the Bay Area Track Club. And this is my first 10K ever. My first ever, road or track." Reilly, a University of California graduate who has primarily been a 1500-meter/mile runner, won the national title in 32:41, with Tara Erdmann second in 32:46 and Neely Spence, another new pro making her first foray at the distance, third in 32:51. Reilly was not the overall winner of the Tufts Health Plan 10K. Hellen Jemutai, a 34-year-old Kenyan, led all the way in 32:30, going through the first mile in 4:58. "No fooling around," Jemutai said afterward. "I just go for my race." Okay then. Jemutai raced yesterday's B.A.A. Half-Marathon and placed third in 1:13:35. Emma Kertesz (32:52) , Jennifer Rhines (32:52) , and Stephanie Rothstein (32:56) took the next three spots behind Spence. Reilly's coach, Magdalena Lewy Boulet, was 15th in 33:51. Reilly, who won the Front Street Mile in Hawaii on September 16, was hanging at the back of a 15-woman American pack at the midway point. Of the 10K, Reilly would explain, "My coach just had me conserve for the first five miles because I had never run one. Tara started to make a move, I matched it, and gave it a go." Reilly had a bit of a home cheering section out there in Boston; her father's family is from nearby Dedham.

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